


Hairy Scary

by NeoVenus22



Category: Power Rangers Dino Thunder
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-10
Updated: 2010-01-10
Packaged: 2017-10-06 02:43:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/48823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeoVenus22/pseuds/NeoVenus22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Like the origins of a superhero, in a way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hairy Scary

If Hayley had been the type of person who slept, she might've been pissed about someone knocking at her door at 2:53 in the morning. As it was, she was grateful for the distraction.

Tommy Oliver stood in her doorway, his hands in his pockets, his eyes slightly bloodshot, and his mouth and jaw area unquestionably sporting a thick, almost heart-shaped forest of hair. Hayley was semi-sleep-deprived, so she was not as good with reaction time as she might otherwise have been, and her hand did in fact fly to her mouth to assist in stifling laughter, but too late. The snorting guffaw made its way out before she could stop it.

"What?"

"'What' is a very good question. As in, 'What exactly is that?' And, 'What were you thinking?'"

"I..." Tommy's finger lifted to pet its way over the stripe of hair on his upper lip, like soothing a caterpillar. "Oh, this?"

"Yes, _that_."

"I'm growing a beard."

"I'm sure you think you are," she said.

He blinked at her, genuinely confused. "What, you don't like it?"

"It's..." He looked sort of ridiculous. Not sort of, completely. "...interesting."

"I thought it looked cool," said Tommy, somewhat sadly.

Men rarely knew what was good for them, Hayley reflected, in fashion or in any other capacity. Tommy was no exception. "I'm guessing you didn't come here just to show me your choice of facial hair?" she said, hoping the real purpose of his visit would reveal itself and save her from talking about whatever was on Tommy's face. She could be diplomatic as hell when the situation warranted, but she felt this might be pushing her limits somewhat.

"No, my computer crashed. I've got a paper due, and I could seriously use your help..."

Oh, he was about to give her the sad eyes. She hated the sad eyes. "And you couldn't just call?"

"You might've been asleep."

"Right, because pounding on someone's door at three in the morning won't wake them up at all."

"I'll give you twenty bucks."

"And here Mom thought I'd never make any money off my computer skills. All right, I'll take a look." She kicked off her slippers, jammed her feet into the sneakers, and grabbed her room keys from the room by the door.

"Thanks, Hales, you're a lifesaver."

"You know, Tommy, someday you're going to have to learn how to do things without my help."

"As if I'd ever want to." Tommy grinned at her. It was incredibly distracting "Besides, you wouldn't let me."

"Because I'm so very intelligent?"

"Because you're a mothering control freak."

"Oh, and to think we made it all the way to your door before you shot your mouth off." She patted his shoulder. "When you're living in a box on the street, because you didn't finish this paper and ended up flunking out of college, I hope you look back and remember the moment where you couldn't keep your mouth shut."

"Aw, man. C'mon, Hales, you know I didn't mean it like that. You know I couldn't do anything without you anyway." He gave her a terribly pathetic look. It was one that she was sure he must've practiced on weak-willed women in the past. It probably would've worked on her, too, if not for the fact that she knew Tommy. The scruffy beard helped a lot, too. "Please?"

"Oh, all right. How bad can it be??"

As it turned out, it was bad. Hayley had been expecting to spend no more than twenty minutes there before she got to go home, but Tommy had screwed something up royally.

"Have you been downloading porn or something?" she sighed, brushing her bangs out of her tired eyes.

"How about I don't answer that and up your fee? Throw in an extra ten."

"I've been here an hour, Tommy. I'm tired and I have a class in the morning."

"Thirty bucks and a smoothie."

Hayley spun the chair around. "Thirty bucks, a smoothie, and you shave the beard."

"I'm not shaving the beard."

"Do you want me to recover your paper?"

"The beard is cool!"

"Tommy, I say this as someone who cares about you. No, the beard is not cool. It will never be cool. I'm doing you a favor with this one, trust me."

"Remember the part where I said you were a mothering control freak?"

Hayley slammed her hands down on the top of the desk. "All right, I'm leaving."

"Okay, okay, okay!" he said, looking a little desperate. "Thirty, a smoothie, and I'll... I mean, do I have to shave the _whole_ thing?"

There was something about his whine that gave her pause. She could easily recall the first time she'd met Tommy Oliver, at some off-campus mixer. He'd been a sad-eyed kid with a ponytail, looking pretty high school. She'd thought he was younger than he actually was. The beard made him look stupid, but it did make him look older. "Tell you what," she said, gracing him with a critical eye. "You have to lose the mustache. But you can work from there."

"All right."

"I'm serious, Oliver. If you don't, I'll do it for you." She stared him down. "While you sleep."

Tommy sighed. "All right. Whatever you want, Hayley."

Her triumph was tired, but genuine. "As always."

Tommy's paper was recovered and his computer was fixed within the hour. Over the course of the week, she had to do similar favors for other, lesser associates who didn't compensate nearly as well, so she and Tommy remained off each other's radar for a few days. Until he showed up on her doorstep, one hand in his pocket, the other clutching a sizable smoothie, and his jaw sporting a stripe that was miniscule in comparison to the beast living there previously. Hayley took a suck on her straw and eyed him. "Much better."

"You think?"

"Oh, absolutely. Much improved."

"Did I tell you I got a B?"

"Let me guess, next time you're going to want me to write the paper for you in addition to everything else."

"No way," he said. "There's only so much I can shave."

Hayley laughed, almost choking on her half-mouthful of raspberry-mango smoothie. "Too much information," she said, and shut the door in his newly shorn face.


End file.
